Deane Rykerson grew up hiking and sailing in the Hudson River Valley with a mother from Ecuador and a father from Dodge City, Kansas. While in high school, he played rock and roll and acted in the Croton Shakespeare Festival. As a founding member of Youth for Civil Rights, Deane invited Martin Luther King to speak at a fundraiser (King was too busy to attend). With a Regent's scholarship, Deane graduated from the State University at Stony Brook with a major in history. During this time, he studied for a semester in Ireland and drove a New York City taxi. On Long Island, he supported United Farm Workers and worked at a breakfast program for schoolchildren.

After graduation, Deane spent several years working and traveling the world. He worked on a railroad track gang, then learned house and boat carpentry and was Bosun on the educational sailing vessel Clearwater. After a move to the Massachusetts Berkshires, he established a woodworking business and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for designing and operating a solar wood drying kiln.

He then attended the Boston Architectural College and obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree after seven years of night classes while working at several Boston architectural firms. He earned his architectural license and became active in the Boston Society of Architects, serving as Chair of the Committee on the Environment, Architects for Social Responsibility, and workshop organizer for the Historic Resources Committee. After receiving a Master of Design Studies degree at Harvard University, he started his architectural firm, Rykerson Architecture.

Moving to Kittery Point, Maine in 2002, Deane designed a sustainable house and office where he presently works. He is married to Wendy Pomeroy, landscape designer and artist, has two grown sons and a thirteen year old daughter. He is presently active in the American Lighthouse Foundation, Wood Island Life Saving Station Association, and the Gundalow Company, teaches courses at the Kittery Center for Adult Education, and serves on the Kittery Foreside Design Review. In 2013 and 2014, Deane is a member of the Phi class of Leadership Maine, learning about the state economy and organizing a summit on encouraging Research and Development in Maine. He enjoys sailing, hiking, biking, making things, and playing a variety of stringed instruments.